Book mailer



J. S. DAVIS BOOK MAILER April 28, 1964 Filed Nqv. 30. 1961 IN VENTOR.

United States Patent 3,130,895 BOOK MAlLER John S. Davis, Irvington on the Hudson, N.Y., assignor to Equitable Paper Bag Co., Inc., Long Island City, N.Y. Filed Nov. 30, 1961, Ser. No. 159,474 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-40) This invention relates to shipping containers which are used for books and the like. The container will be referred to herein as a mailer since it is particularly suitabkiel for enclosing books which are to be transported by ma It is an object of the invention to provide an improved mailer which is less expensive than boxes and which affords ample protection for a book. It is another object to provide such a mailer with sealing means that are a part of the mailer and that can be activated conveniently so as to save substantial time in the packaging of books for mailing.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved mailer which folds into a flat condition for storage and which takes up a rnin'nn-um of space when shipped with other mailers to publishing houses and other places where mailers are commonly used. It is a feature of the invention that in spite of the supplying of the mailer in a flattened condition, it can be set up, loaded and sealed in a minimum of time.

Another object is to provide a mailer, of the character indicated, with improved sealing means at both ends of the mailer, and to combine the sealing means with the other structure of the mailer so as to obtain economical manufacture.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view, partly broken away and in section, showing a mailer made in accordance with this invention and with the mailer in substantially fiat condition;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, showing one end of the mailer of FIGURE 1 in set-up condition;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view, partly broken away and in section, showing one end of the mailer after it has been loaded and sealed;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary view, mostly in section, and with the section taken along the plane 44 of FIG- URE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a greatly enlarged sectional view, taken on the plane 55 of FIGURE 2.

The mailer illustrated consists of a tube having four sides connected together along hinge lines 12 and with opposite sides of the same dimensions so that they form a folding parallelogram. Since the mailer is intended primarily for books, the preferred construction includes two wide sides and two narrow sides, which give the tube 10 a rectangular cross section, similar to that of a book, when the tube is in set-up condition.

FIGURE 1 shows a tube 10 with a wide front side 14 and a narrow side 16 lying in the same plane when the tube is folded. The front side 14 is broken away to expose another narrow side 18 which is opposite to the side 16 in the setup mailer; and the narrow side 16 is broken away to expose part of a wide back side which is opposite the wide front side 14 when the mailer is in setup condition.

There are flaps 22 at opposite ends of the front side 14 and there are similar iflaps 24 at opposite ends of the back side 20. There are other flaps 26 at both ends of both of the narrow sides 16 and 18.

3,130,895 Patented Apr. 28, 1964 All of these end flaps are preferably of the same length so as to facilitate the manufiacture of the tube 10 from a flat web which is tubed and then cut to form successive mailers. All of the flaps are made independentof one another by providing cuts 28 at both sides of each flap, these cuts being made in the web before it is tubed.

The tube 10' 'has a longitudinally-extending seam 30 which runs the entire length of the front side 14 and the flaps 22. This seam 30 is a lap seam and it is preferably located so that no portion of it comes within the hinge lines, indicated by the reference character 12.

FIGURE 2 shows the mailer in set-up condition and ready to receive a book. The side walls are shifted into right-angular relation with one another, this relation being distorted somewhat in FIGURE 2 by the perspective. The flaps v22, 24 and 26 extend upwardly in substantial alignment with the sides to which they are connected. This result is obtained because of the fact that hinge lines 612, connecting the flaps to their respective sides of the tube, are stiff when the mailer is manufactured and before any of the flaps have been bent along these hinge lines 32.

Thus the end of the mailer is fully open for receiving a book as soon as the flattened tube has been deflected to bring the narrow sides into right-angular relation with the wide sides. The book is then inserted into the mailer and the flaps are closed against the end of the book. The [flaps 26 are folded inwardly first and then the front flap 2 2 is folded down on top of the side (flap 26.

The back flap 24 is provided with adhesive 34. In the preferred construction this adhesive 34 is a pressure-sealing adhesive and it is originally covered by a protective strip 36. Before folding the back flap 24 down on the front flap 22, the protective strip 36 is peeled off to expose the pressure-sealing adhesive $4.

FIGURE 3 shows an end view of the mailer after the flaps have been folded down and the back flap sealed to the top of the front flap. In the preferred construction, the front flap 22 and the back flap 24 are made high enough so as to reach most of the way across the space between the trout and back sides of the mailer. In the construction illustrated, these front and back flaps reach substantially all the way across the space and this obtains a stronger construction. In any event, the adhesive 34 covers all of the area of the back flap 24 which overlaps the front flap 22 when the flaps are folded down for sealing.

FIGURE 4 shows a book 40 in phantom and spaced slightly from the sides and flaps of the mailer for clearer illustration. In actual practice the book would ordinanily contact with the sides and may contact with the flaps at the ends of the mailer. While it is preferable to have the mailer of the same size as the book, satisfactory results are obtained where the books are somewhat smaller than the mailer since the construction of the mailer is such as to resist tearing. This resistance to tearing, and also to abrasion, is obtained by constructing the preferred embodiment of the invention out of material having two plies. An inner ply 42 is made of soft material, and preferably creped paper. An outer ply 44 is made of a smooth, hard and tough sheet material such as kraft paper. The plies 42 and 44 are bonded together by adhesive \when manufacturing the web of which the tube is made.

Although a soft inside surface is of less importance on the flaps, the creped ply does extend over the full areas of the flaps, as shown in FIGURE 5. This is necessary be cause of the manner in which the mailers are manufactured by tubing a web. On those surfaces of the end flaps which do not touch the book, the creped paper does serve the useful function of providing additional padding for the ends of the mailer.

FIGURE 3 shows the preferred construction for sealing the mailer by means of the pressure-sealing adhesive 34.

This construction is particularly useful with the creped inner ply of the back flap. The pressure-sealing adhesive 34 is on a patch 48 which has a smooth surface so as to obtain maximum area of contact with the smooth and hard outer ply of the front flap 22. This patch 48 covers the entire area over which the pressure-sealing adhesive 34 is to be used. The patch 48 is itself secured to the creped surface of the back flap 24 by other adhesive 50. This other adhesive is used to apply the patch 48 during the manufacture of the tube and before the web is tubed. Any suitable kind of adhesive can be used as the adhesive 50 and it is ordinarily a glue which permeates the creped ply and which dries on the parts which it connects, as is conventional with glues that are used for making the bottoms of paper bags.

The constnuction of the mailer is the same at both ends so that after one end has been folded and sealed, the mailer is turned with the other end up, and the sealing operation is repeated. It will be apparent that the closing and sealing can be done conveniently and quickly since there is no care necessary in applying glue and the adhesive 34 can be activated at the moment of use by merely pulling the protective strip 36 from the back flap. A tab 52 can he provided to facilitate removal of the strip 36.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made and some features can be used in different combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claim.

What is claimed is:

In a mailing container having front, back and side walls forming a box-like structure with end flaps constitubing extensions of the front, back and side walls and that fold over one another to close both ends of the container, the improvement which comprises (a) the walls and flaps being of one-piece construction and being a tube with a longitudinally-extending lap seam,

(b) the container being made of flexible paper of two superimposed and cross-pasted webs, the paper being made with two plies including an inner ply of creped paper which provides a soft lining for the mailer, and an outer ply of smooth, hard and tough paper for resistance to abrasion whereby it can be made by a continuous tubing of a flat web,

(0) pressure-sealing adhesive on the inside faces of the outermost end flaps that close both ends of the container, the pressure-sealing adhesive being on the face of a patch which has its other face securedto the surface of the flap behind the adhesive, the patches at both ends of the tube extending across the flaps to which they are secured and to those ends of the flaps which are remote from the hinge connections of the flaps with the sides of the tube, and

(d) protecting strips that cover the pressure-sealing adhesive and that peel off toward the inside of the flaps.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,109,583, Bennett Mar. 1, 1938 2,417,104 Cope Mar. 11, 1947 2,840,294 Davis June 24, 1958 2,979,246 Lilbeskind Apr. 1 1, 1961 2,998,180 Dehoney Aug. 29, 1961 

